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As an technology user and steward of your own personal privacy,
it is important to be aware of which services will be quick to
release your information to third-parties as well as the
government. An informative whitepaper by The Electronic
Frontier Foundation was recently released and rates popular
websites based on their privacy policies. The report explains:

“We evaluated each company based on the following criteria:

1. A public commitment to inform users when their data is sought
by the government. To earn a star in this category, Internet
companies must promise to tell users when their data is being
sought by the government unless prohibited by law. This gives
users a chance to defend themselves against overreaching
government demands for their data.

2. Transparency about when and how often companies hand data to
the government. This category has two parts. Companies earn a
half-star in this category if they publish statistics on how
often they provide user data to governments worldwide. Companies
also earn a half-star if they make public any policies they have
about sharing data with the government, such as guides for law
enforcement. (If a company doesn’t have law enforcement
guidelines at all, though, we don’t hold that against them).
Companies that publish both statistics and law enforcement
guidelines receive a full star.

3. Fight for users’ privacy rights in the courts. To earn
recognition in this category, companies must have a public record
of resisting overbroad government demands for access to user
content in court. Not all companies will be put in the position
of having to defend their users before a judge, but those who do
deserve special recognition.

4. Fight for users’ privacy in Congress. Internet companies earn
a star in this category if they support efforts to modernize
electronic privacy laws to defend users in the digital age by
joining the Digital Due Process coalition.”